Arigatou
by sheelaflower
Summary: Akatsuki knocks at Doremi's window in the middle of the night. The red-haired witch apprentice wonders what he might want and is surprised when he starts telling her about all his worries. A lot of AkaDore. R&R please


**And here's another little AkaDore oneshot! Call me crazy, but Yuki's not the only one who loves that couple. So Yuki and all other AkaDore fan's out there, enjoy^^**

!'!'!'!'

Doremi shot up. All her senses were on alarm, adrenaline was running through her every vein. Even though every muscle was tense, Doremi did not move an inch. The darkness around her, the weak sight did not help to calm her down. On the contrary, it just made her even tenser. And so, Doremi waited. What for? She didn't know up until the very moment the thing she was waiting for appeared.

*Knock Knock*

That was it. That is what she had been waiting for, the very noise that woke her up; a knock. From the way it sounded, it was somebody knocking against glass. But the disturbing part was that someone was knocking on glass in the middle of the night.

*Knock Knock Knock*

Again. Only this time, Doremi could tell where the knocking was coming from; above. So she looked upwards, towards the window above her bed and what she saw went beyond anything she had expected to be knocking at her window in the middle of the night.

"AKATSUKI-KUN?" Doremi yelled out in surprise, but quickly put a hand above her mouth, hoping she hadn't woken anybody

The young wizard smiled through her window and nodded his head. Apparently, Doremi had been loud enough for Akatsuki to understand her. The two outstanding strands of his purple hair twitched and the window opened. Why hadn't he done that in the first place? Doremi just sat in her bed and watched as the Mahoutsukaikai's prince majestically soared through the now open window, landing softly (and most important of all quietly) in the middle of her room.

"Hey", he smiled and scratched the back of his head.

Doremi stared at him without really taking in anything. Her brain didn't quite seem to comprehend that her biggest crush yet had just soared into her room. Slowly, it recognized one thing after the other; that it was two o'clock in the morning, that she was sitting in her bed, but most importantly, that she had taken a bath before she went to bed which is why her hair was open for a change and probably looked terrible. Next, she realized that she was wearing pajamas, then that she probably looked sleep-drunk. And then she realized that that wouldn't be too much of a problem if the biggest crush of her life wouldn't be standing right in front of her.

"A – Akatsuki kun …" she stuttered, now totally overrun by the situation.

Named wizard smiled weakly at her. She realized that he probably knew all about bedtime rules in the human world and that most people were fast asleep at this time in the day. A wizard prince probably has to sleep every now and then as well after all. And yet, Doremi couldn't help but wonder.

"Akatsuki-kun, are you out of your mind? Do you have any clue what time it is?" she hissed

"Well …"

"It's two o'clock in the morning! Why are you knocking at my window at two o'clock in the morning?"

"That's …"

"And why didn't you tell me you were coming? It's embarrassing to have you here with me looking like this! I must look terrible."

"Actually, I think you look pretty."

Doremi opened her mouth to say something again, but then she realized what he just said and the words never came out. For another minute or so, she was totally baffled and just stared at Akatsuki once again.

" … I what? …" she managed to choke out after a while.

"It's the first time I ever get to see you with your hair open. It makes you look really pretty."

Doremi's cheeks went as red as her hair. She smiled to herself, and gestured her surprise guest to sit down. He took the offer and sat down on Doremi's bed next to her hip. A weak, thanking smile played across his lips and Doremi went even redder. But he got her full attention again when he sighed a heavy sigh.

"Uhm … why exactly are you here … y'know … at my house … in the middle of the night …" the red-haired asked again.

"I had a fight with my father" he sighed.

"The king of the wizard world?"

Akatsuki nodded and let himself fall backwards on Doremi's bed. The position he was in was not exactly comfortable for the witch apprentice, since the purple haired boy was lying right on her hip bones. So she lifted her legs a little, making the blanket along with Akatsuki slip on her belly instead.

"What did you fight about?"

"You."

Doremi blinked, once again totally baffled. For a moment there was silence as Doremi tried to take in what Akatsuki had just said.

"Uuhhhh …" Doremi finally showed her confusion.

"Actually, we fought over all of the ojamajos, but especially over you. Father is most thankful that you and the others saved our worlds even though I took Hana from you and he has great respect for you, but he doesn't like that I and the others are so close to you girls. A witch that has fallen in love with a human has never had a good ending and there's no difference in that when it comes to wizards."

That was true. The most famous story in the Mahoutskai and the Mahoutskaikai was the story of the former witch queen who has fallen in love with a human. The result wasn't exactly what one would call a happy ending. But what did this have to do with her?

"Father might not have anything against us wizards going to the human world, but the Mahoutskaikai is still recovering. We're still low on wizards. That's why my father doesn't like it at all if one of us falls for a human … or for a witch … and you girls are something in between. But no matter what the result is, you'll either stay human or become fully fledged witches."

Also a true statement. Of course, Doremi wanted to become a witch and she hoped that it would finally work out this time. But she also hoped that the queen would let her live in the human world, like Majo Rika, even if she was a witch. If not, then Doremi wasn't sure she really wanted to be a witch and she couldn't be a witch apprentice forever. It was either witch or human.

"But now that the gates to the Mahoutskai are open, won't there be more witches who fall in love with wizards and vice-versa?" Doremi asked.

"There will as soon as they start interacting with each other. But the two worlds were separated for centuries, so I think the witches and wizards will take their sweet time getting to know each other again. My father won't be happy as soon as that happens, unless the two worlds unite and witches and wizards live together again in one worlds as they have in ancient times. But the only one who can make that happen is Hana-chan and she needs to be queen for that."

"And that's gonna take a while …"

"Yeah. What's even worse is when a wizard falls for a human. It's pretty similar to what happens when a witch falls for a human and as said, that never has a happy ending."

"But what has all that to do with me?"

"Doremi-chan, think! Leon, Fuji and Tooru have hopelessly fallen for Ai-chan, Hadzuki-chan and Onpu-chan. If their feelings get returned someday they might just make the decision father fears; to stay with them, no matter if they are witches or humans."

"Hmm … true."

"And if the prince of the Mahoutskaikai falls for a human …"

Doremi's eyes went wide. Where was this going? Was Akatsuki saying what she thought he was saying? It couldn't be. That what Doremi had dreamt of all her life, what she hoped would happen with every single one of the many crushes she has had … was it coming true?

"Wha … ?" Doremi choked out.

"My father and I have been arguing pretty often lately. He realized something was up because I spent so much time with you and because of the way I behaved towards you when you rescued my people. He always wanted me to stop seeing you; me and the others of the flat 4. He wanted to forbid us to leave Mahoutskaikai, but I stood against it. Pretty weird actually. I never argued with my father before. He's a kind man after all and I have been raised to obey him. Even when he did something I thought was wrong, I always obeyed him and behaved like a prince should. Until I met you."

"Me?"

"You. It was my mission to take Hana-chan from you. At first, it was just another mission, nothing special. But Hana's power and your determination cause quite some trouble, which is why I had to call my friends for help. If I had the chance, I would have taken her without an afterthought, but the more time I spent with you, the harder it got to do this. I felt like I was betraying you. I actually came to like you. I wanted you to like me, I wanted you to trust me, I wanted to be able to make you smile. And to betray that wonderful smile of yours … it seemed more and more like a devil's act. In the end, I couldn't stand to see you suffer like that, so I gave Hana-chan back to you."

Doremi blushed again. She had always wondered what it was that made the cold-hearted prince give up. After all, he chose her pleading over his entire kingdom, something that is not to take lightly.

"That was the very first time I disobeyed my father. But it was worth it. By doing that, I felt like I had the chance to become your friend again. I wanted us to be friends … no … I wanted … want us to be more than just friends."

The witchling was unable to speak. Her brain set out, but therefore, her heart pounded like crazy. She wanted to scream. She wanted to hug the young wizard and tell him that she wanted the same. She wanted to tell him that she's follow him, wherever he went and that she loved him more than anything else in the world. But she couldn't. It was as if she was petrified.

"I told that my father today … how I felt about you. Haha! You can't imagine how angry he was. He grounded me and locked me up in the castle. He wants to prevent me from ever seeing you again. So I ran away. I couldn't stay in the Mahoutskaikai of course, he'd definitely find me there. The only witch I know in the Mahoutskai is the queen and I can't possibly go to her. Majo Rika would hand me out immediately, so the Mahou Dou was no option either. So the only place I could think of was yours and tada, here I am."

Akatsuki seemed to have finished telling his story because he was quiet from then on. But now it was Doremi's turn. Listening to that last part of his story has stirred that typical will to help and set things right.

"No", she said after a few moments of silence.

That one word caught Akatsuki's full attention. He looked at her, seemingly unable to understand what she just said. Doremi moved her legs, forcing Akatsuki to sit up again, but his wide eyes never left her determined face.

"No!" she said again. "You can't run away. You have to go back to your father."

"Doremi-chan …" Akatsuki caught himself pretty fast, compared to Doremi. "Doremi-chan, don't say that. If I go back to my father, he'll lock me up entirely and I won't ever be able to see you again."

"That won't happen. The Akatsuki-kun I know never runs away from anything. The Akatsuki-kun I know would fight for what he thinks is right and he would never give up. He would behave like a real prince should and stand up to his believes and fight for his maiden, even against his father's will. And because the Akatsuki-kun I know would do that with everything he's got, he would never loose and definitely set things right. And because Akatsuki-kun has to do that, he can't stay here. He has to go back to his father and set things right!"

"Doremi-chan…"

Akatsuki's eyes were wide. He would never understand how she does that, but Doremi always has a way of finding the good points in a person and bring them out. She would always find a way to make somebody do the right thing and she would always manage to make people smile, no matter who they are. And no matter how hopeless the case was, she would always believe in a person and make them believe in themselves. And she just did it again. It was no wonder the wizard prince couldn't help but smile.

"You win again, Doremi-chan", he chuckled. "But can I still stay here for the night?"

Doremi smiled that smile that Akatsuki loved so much and nodded. She stood up to offer the young wizard her bed and he accepted. But when he was taken care of, she noticed that she had no place to sleep in anymore, slow as she always was. She was in the middle of complaining to herself about this situation that Akatsuki grabbed her hand and pulled her down to him. Doremi blushed and her heart started beating heavily again as Akatsuki hugged her tightly, but gently.

"You'll sleep here, with me!" He whispered.

Doremi nodded happily and nuzzled herself into Akatsuki's embrace. In a matter of seconds, she was asleep.

'!'!'!'

"Doremi!"

The voice was familiar. Slowly, the senses returned to the red haired witchling and she could feel the warmth of the sun on her face. The familiar colors of her room came into her view as she opened her eyes.

"DOREMI!"

That scream was so loud that Doremi jumped and fell out of her bed as a result. In a split second she was wide awake and the first thing she remembered was …

"Akatsuki-kun!" she yelped.

"Akatsuki-kun? Why of all people Akatsuki-kun?" the voice asked obviously confused.

Doremi looked at the person the voice came from and saw her little sister Pop looking up at her with a very annoyed expression. Then, Doremi looked back to her bed and saw that it was empty. Akatsuki was gone. Doremi looked all around her room but couldn't spot him anywhere. It was only her and Pop.

"Hurry up and get dressed. You're gonna be late for school otherwise."

With that, Pop marched out of the room with a bit of an angry Doremi left behind. But that anger faded quickly and she jumped on her bed to look out of her window. It was closed, but a small piece of paper was stuck between it and the window sill. Doremi took it and unfolded it. A single word was written on it;

_Arigatou_


End file.
